…Chief Operating Officer Rob Solomon explained why the company is eager to have a presence in the most-watched sporting event of the year. “Groupon has served as a bridge between the online and offline worlds,” he said. “After two years in business earning 50 million subscribers to date, we feel it’s time to use TV to reach an even broader audience.”

Though I’m not much of sports-fan…I do know that the Super Bowl is THIS Sunday. Um..talk about last-minute ad placement!?

…according to people familiar with the situation. One company that had purchased time during the game decided to pull out in the past couple of weeks, so Fox then re-sold the time to Groupon.

While they are the pioneers of group-buying, Groupon’s largest rival Living Social is gaining ground.

If you recall, in November 2010, Groupon shockingly rejected Google’s $6B offer for purchase. Since they haven’t gone public yet…they don’t owe us any explanations, but it’s safe to assume that the ~$3M price-tag for 30 seconds of airtime + production-time, is probably pocket-change.

In response to the FTC’s call for regulation of tracking (by way of cookies), and in effort to cater to its users, Microsoft has announced that

IE9, set to debut sometime next year, will offer Tracking Protection Lists, a feature similar to current popup blockers, that can stop specified websites from tracking users’ online behavior through cookies or other methods.

“Telecommunication services, namely, providing online chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among computer users in the field of general interest and concerning social and entertainment subject matter, none primarily featuring or relating to motoring or to cars.”

For all those who thought I was going a little overboard when I’ve previously compared Facebook to Big Brother… who looks like the crazy one now?

So this isn’t breaking newsper se, as it already happened, this past Sunday. BUT, if you didn’t know about this, then…BREAKING NEWS!!

Facebook is officially making their foray into retail stores, by way of gift cards.

The new Facebook gift cards will be available in values of $15, $25 and $50 at all of Target’s 1,750 retail stores and at Target.com. Two or three more national retailers will start selling the cards in coming months.

I know people who like to play those ridiculous games, ie. Oregon Trail, Mafia Wars, and Farmville,..but had no idea that

More than 200 million people play free social games on Facebook each month, according to Facebook.

Or that

(And) many of them are beginning to spend money on premium goods and services associated with those games.

More power to Facebook, for finding new creative ways to get people to spend money on ridiculous crap. If people are willing to shell out money to play these virtual games (when they could be doing real life things…I mean, farming?? Really, when was the last time you planted a bushel of corn?? Does corn come in bushels? Clearly I’ve never played Farmville, so excuse my lack of knowledge), then why not make it seem like it’s halfway normal…by making the payment in gift card form.

Similar to the Do Not Call Registry, the FTC is considering to implement a do not track list (as related to online advertising).

The idea of a universal opt-out is nothing new, and the industry has its own version in place through a trade group the Network Advertising Initiative, and companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft, Google and data exchange Blue Kai all allow consumers to opt-out of ad targeting.

But the idea of a federally-mandated system is reviving a long-held concern.

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but every single click you make, while surfing the Internet, is tracked by someone. AND there are many companies out there, who are buying that information (your information).

Personally, I don’t think the government needs to regulate the Internet.

Further, it is my opinion that people need to become better educated about the ins/outs of the Internet. For whatever reason, it seems like people feel ‘safe’ online, when, in fact they need to realize that while the Internet is a virtual world, it isn’t all that different from the real world…

“Facebook is a phenomenal success, so we were not expecting to see it score so poorly with consumers,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. “At the same time, our research shows that privacy concerns, frequent changes to the website, and commercialization and advertising adversely affect the consumer experience. Compare that to Wikipedia, which is a non-profit that has had the same user interface for years, and it’s clear that while innovation is critical, sometimes consumers prefer evolution to revolution.”

If so many people are truly dissatisfied with the site, why do people keep joining?